St. Scholastica claims 6-I girls soccer district crown with 2-1 victory against Fontainebleau

The celebration lasted for about 10 minutes after St. Scholastica edged Fontainebleau 2-1 at the Dawg Pound first their first District 6-I title since Michael Ortner took over as head coach.

He was quick to remind the team that it was just one piece of the puzzle, savor it, and move on to the next goal that hopefully leads them to a fourth consecutive appearance in the Division I final.

“This is huge to be able to do this and still have Mandeville left to play,” said Ortner. “We’d never been in this position before. We do have bigger goals past the district championship, but this is our short term focus.”

Fourth-ranked St. Scholastica (14-1-1, 10-0) entered the match as one of four teams in District 6-I among the top 10 in Division I. Others were fifth-ranked Mandeville, Fontainebleau (8th), and Nortshore (9th). Given depth and strength of schedule, all are positioned for a return to the postseason.

Fontainebleau (8-6-4, 7-3) came out with a sense of urgency, pressing the Doves hard and possessing the ball in their territory for the first 10 minutes and didn’t allow a shot until the 15th minute, which was by Lucy Duet, 20 yards away from the left.

St. Scholastic went on the attack late in the half when Brooke Doyle crossed the ball to Brittany Borsage, who raced in from the right to head the ball in for a 1-0 lead with five minutes remaining.

“A lot of goals are scored in the first five minutes and last five minutes of a half and teams tend to get tired in between,” Ortner said. “That’s a time where we bring up our level and focus. We got off to a slow start and didn’t find our rhythm until 20 minutes into the game.”

It didn’t take long for the Doves to strike again as Abby Childress shot one past Kristen Guidotti for a 2-0 lead as both teams converged in front of the Fontainebleau goal in an effort to win control.

“I knew it was really important to get that goal because we had a sense of urgency,” said Childress. “The first goal really set the tone for our team at a time when we needed it. If we rushed, we would have panicked.”

Summer Jones created some discomfort for St. Scholastica when she split through two defenders kicked the ball past the fingertips of Elena Naccari in the 60th minute, reducing the Lady Bulldog advantage to 2-1.

Although the team is a work in progress, Fontainebleau coach Carly Hotard knows the playoffs are within reach, and what areas need to be addressed.

“For the first 15 minutes, I thought we played well,” said Hotard. “We tried to control the tempo and took a lot of shots on goal, but the momentum of the game often changes. We just didn’t play Bulldog soccer. Their first goal was a wake up call for us and almost made us play a little better. We’ve been behind a lot this season and had to fight back.”